Watermarks are translucent impressions on paper, created by
wires attached to the papermaking mould.
They were (and are) used to identify
the maker of the paper, and sometimes where and when the paper was made.
Watermarks were produced in a wide variety of shapes and styles, ranging from
geometric designs to images of animals, flowers, national symbols (such as the
fleur-de-lis of France), and words or names. The watermark wire shape was
attached to the paper mould by being sewed to the laid wires (horizontal) and
chain wires (vertical) with fine wire; this caused "sewing dots" to be
impressed on the paper along with the watermark.

The combination of watermark shape, positioning on the sheet
and sewing dot pattern can be used to identify the manufacturer of the paper, as
well as the geographic area where it was produced and the approximate date of
manufacture. There is considerable uncertainty inherent in this identification,
however; watermark evidence alone can only provide clues, not precise facts. The
uncertainties of watermark analysis include:

The same papermaker may have used several different watermarks.

The same mark may have been used by the same or a different papermaker
at times separated by decades.

Other papermakers may have imitated a successful manufacturer’s mark.

The watermark shape changed gradually as the mould was used, and
sometimes the watermark wire broke and was repaired, changing the shape.

Paper was sometimes manufactured years before it was used.

The watermark in question may not appear in any published catalog and so
cannot be compared to watermarks of known papermakers.

The recording of watermark images has long been problematic.
Existing catalogs (such as Briquet) which use tracings do not show all of the
details needed for exact identification. Tracings are also subject to human
error in determining the true contours of the watermark (many of which are
hidden behind text or are otherwise difficult to see) and in accurately
transferring those contours to the drawing surface. Tracings also result in
black lines on a white background, when watermarks consist of more translucent
lines on a less translucent background. Other methods have been used, including
backlit photography (as was done with the Lydgate manuscript) which produces a
good image but cannot always show sufficient detail; a visible light photograph
also records the text which often obscures parts of the watermark.

Watermark Type 2 (folio 8) via backlit photography.
The text from both sides of the paper obscures part of the watermark.

The current best technique, beta-radiography, involves producing an X-ray image of the
paper. This is done by sandwiching the sheet of paper between a radioactive
source, usually a plastic sheet impregnated with Carbon 14, and X-ray film; the
X-rays pass more easily through the thinner areas of the paper (the watermark,
laid lines and chain lines) and so record the paper in black and the watermark
in white. The resulting image is highly detailed and clearly shows the
watermark, eliminating the text and/or illustrations that may be covering it.
The radioactive source is said to have no effect on the paper (Schoonover, 1987).
This technique has not been tried on the Lydgate manuscript due to
unavailability of the requisite materials and fear of protests from the Special
Collections librarian.

The Lydgate manuscript paper has
two distinct watermarks, arbitrarily designated Type 1 and Type 2. (The
watermarks in the images below have been digitally traced from backlit
photographs and enhanced for clarity.)

Type 1

Type 2

The watermarks are basically the same symbol; the difference
between them is in the precise shape and position of the elements of the design.
While there are only two basic watermarks found in the manuscript, there are
slight variations within those types from sheet to sheet. These variations were
likely caused by movement of the watermark wires on the mould and by differences
in how the pulp fibers arranged themselves over the wires. The scribe who used
the Lydgate paper did not make any effort to orient each sheet of paper in the
same way, so on several sheets the watermark is upside down with respect to the
text. To record this, the two watermark types were further divided into those
right side up relative to the text (Types 1u and 2u) and those upside down
relative to the text (Type 1d and 2d). The watermark on all Lydgate sheets is
near the center of one half of the sheet; for Types 1u and 2u this places the
watermark on the left half of the sheet, and for Types 1d and 2d this places the
watermark on the right half of the sheet. The watermarks are positioned near the
vertical center of the sheet as well, though a few sheets (folia 67 and 94, for
example) have the watermark about 15mm lower on the page than usual. This
probably indicates differences in trimming those sheets since the position of
the watermark on the mould is unlikely to have changed by that much.

The symbol used for the Lydgate paper watermarks is a fairly
common one, a shield or cup shape containing three connected fleur-de-lis
symbols, with a series of floral shapes above and a stylized Gothic letter
"T" below. The most obvious differences between Type 1 and Type 2 are
found in the lower fleur-de-lis and in the letter "T"; in the Type 1
watermark the vertical leaf of the fleur-de-lis points somewhat to the right
while in Type two it points somewhat to the left; letter "T" is
thicker in Type 2; and the flourishes on the end of the "T" cross
stroke differ markedly between Type 1 and Type 2.

The medieval process of
papermaking normally required the use
of two or more moulds for each batch of paper. The moulds would start out more
or less identical, but would develop variations in the position of their various
elements over time. The watermarks on each mould would initially be as similar
as the artisan could make them, but no two shapes formed from wire could be
exactly the same, so even when new the watermarks on each mold would be somewhat
different. This difference can be used to determine the minimum number of moulds
that were used to produce a given batch of paper; in the case of the Lydgate
manuscript that minimum number is two.

Briquet lists many watermarks showing some or all of the
elements found in the Lydgate watermarks; the images from Briquet number 1736 to
1761 are all composed of three fleur-de-lis symbols in a shield shape with a
letter below. The chief difference in this range of Briquet images is in the
shapes of the elements above the shield; these range from flowers to crowns to
more fleur-de-lis symbols. Some have additional elements, usually floral, above
the elements on top of the shield and attached to it by a vertical wire. Within
the image 1736 to 1761 range, eight images are fairly similar to the Lydgate
watermarks (images 1739, 1740, 1741, 1742, 1744, 1746, 1748 and 1749), with 1741
being the closest match and 1748 the next closest. No image in Briquet matches
the Lydgate watermarks exactly, and even the closest matches have significant
differences in the fleur-de-lis pattern, the floral pattern above the shield,
and the shape of the letter "T" below the shield. However, the Lydgate
watermarks clearly fall into the Briquet range 1739 to 1749, and from this some
tentative conclusions can be drawn.

Examination of the arrangement of the images in Briquet
(which are ordered based on the shape and elements of the watermarks) shows that
similar watermarks generally have similar dates and places of use. The Briquet
images 1739 to 1749 range in date from 1458 to 1526 and in area of use from Rouen
and Paris in the south to Strasbourg in the east and Rotterdam in the north. The
closest match, image 1741, is found in manuscripts dated from 1470 to 1482 in
locations including Beauvais, Paris, Troyes, Strasbourg, Cologne, and Amsterdam.
The next closest match, image 1748, is dated from 1509 to 1522 in locations
around Caen, France. In both cases the marks were used in the region extending
from northern France to the Netherlands and east to Germany, which is consistent
with the known trade in paper from this area to Britain. This analysis suggests
that the paper used in the Lydgate manuscript was manufactured in Normandy or
the nearby region sometime between 1470 and 1509, with a date in the 1480’s
being likely. It must be emphasized that this location and date of manufacture
is uncertain; further evidence and analysis would be required to confirm both
the date and location.